This invention relates generally to electronically determining the status of a telephone over a network. More specifically, the present invention provides a method and apparatus for obtaining the status of a telephone (whether on-hook or off-hook) over a network in order to maximize the probability of reaching a desired party. It also provides a method and apparatus for sending an e-mail to the desired party for storage as a voice mail message.
Literally millions of times per day, parties attempt to contact one another, only to find that the party initiating the telephone call receives a busy signal or is put into the phone mail of the receiving telephone when that telephone is off-hook. Not only is this experience frustrating for the caller, but can result in lost business or social opportunities on the part of the receiving party who is on the line speaking with someone else. In addition, receiving busy signals and the inability to complete telephone calls results in the loss of millions of dollars in revenue both from the time expended by the caller in trying to reach the desired party, as well as lost opportunities for commerce or other social contact.
Telephone line activity monitoring has been the subject of invention in the past. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,559,416 to Theis, et. al. describes a form of line activity monitoring for the purpose of obtaining information regarding statistics of line usage. This system detects the usage of the line, but not transmit status information to others in any current fashion.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,989,899 to Norwich describes yet another monitoring system whose purpose is to notify an operator that a telephone line is open so that a desired message can be delivered by the operator to a receiving party. This system comprises an automatic dialer which attempts to reach individuals on a repetitive basis until a connection is made. Again, status of the telephone at any given point of time is not provided.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,734,931 to Bourg, et. al. describes an integrated calling directory comprising a personal computer that stores information about the numbers being called. It does not address the problem associated with the called party telephone being in an off-hook condition. This is not reported in any fashion to the initiator of the telephone call.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,530,740 to Irribarren, et. al. described a communication system comprising a voice message system for storing and retrieving voice messages and faxed data and for converting text into voice messages. This system does not deal with the issue of how to contact the party receiving the phone call but only leaves a message for that party in the event that the phone is in an off-hook condition.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,500,893 to Onosaka is yet another information processing system having a telephone and an informational processing device. Again this invention does not address the issue of whether a called party telephone is in an on-hook or off-hook condition.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,647,002 to Brunson describes a system for synchronization of mail boxes over a network. This system is designed to ensure that information in electronic mail is complete in a series of different mail boxes. The issue of providing information to a caller regarding the status of a called party""s telephone is not dealt with.
What is desired is a system whereby a calling party can pre-determine the status of a called party""s telephone (on-hook or off-hook) so as to maximize the opportunity for completing a telephone call to the desired party.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to maximize the probability that a calling party will actually contact a called party when a telephone call is made.
It is a further objective of the present invention to provide a status of the called party""s telephone (on-hook or off-hook) before the calling party makes the telephone call to the called party.
It is a further objective of the present invention to provide telephone status information over a network.
It is a further objection of the present invention to continually monitor the status of a telephone in order to provide the telephone in order to provide the telephone status information desired.
It is a further objective of the present invention to store telephone line status in a file that can be accessed by others.
It is a further objective of the present invention to constantly update the telephone line status file so that callers accessing the file can have an up-to-date record of the status of a telephone to be called.
It is a further objective of the present invention to obtain the status of a called party""s telephone over cable systems connected to public switched telephone networks.
It is yet another objection to obtain the status of a called party""s telephone when both the called party and the calling party are connected to cable systems.
It is a further objective of the present invention to obtain the status of a called party""s telephone when the called party is connected to a cable system but the calling party is not.
It is yet another objective of the present invention to generally provide information concerning home and office equipment and functions to a file that can be accessed by networks external to the home, such as the Internet.
These and other objectives of the present invention will become apparent from a review of the general and detailed descriptions that follow. The present invention provides a method for a calling party to receive constantly updated information concerning the status of a telephone (on-hook or off-hook) to be called. For purposes of this specification this status will generally be called the xe2x80x9ctelephone status.xe2x80x9d The present invention also provides a way for a calling party to leave e-mail and voice mail to the called party as part of the determination of telephone status.
The present invention comprises a monitoring system which can constantly poll a series of telephones, and stores information concerning the telephone status in a telephone status file. Alternatively, the system switch simply records the off-hook status of a telephone of the system and provides a notation to a file that is accessible to others. Thus, a telephone is presumed to be on-hook unless it is determined to be off-hook. That file is one that, in a preferred embodiment, can be accessed over the Internet. When a calling party desires to maximize its probability of actually being connected with a called party, the calling party accesses the telephone""s status file over the Internet and receives a determination of whether the called telephone is on-hook or off-hook. When an off-hook condition is noted, the calling party will not attempt to place the telephone call. In addition, the calling party may elect to alert the called party that a call was attempted, to send an e-mail and have the e-mail delivered as a voice mail message, or to be signaled when the called party""s phone is on-hook. When the telephone status is noted as on-hook, the calling party can then make the telephone call with some reasonable assurance of reaching the telephone of the called party.
This system differs from existing private branch exchanges (PBX) in that a current PBX can have a xe2x80x9ccamp onxe2x80x9d feature that allows a use to place a phone call to a telephone on the PBX, note that the called telephone is off-hook and xe2x80x9ccamp onxe2x80x9d to the called party""s telephone line so that when an on-hook condition is noted, the PBX can automatically connect the calling party to the called party. The difficulty with such camp on systems is that they cannot be used by people outside the PBX. In addition, when using the camp on feature, the call is xe2x80x9ccampedxe2x80x9d only after is placed. The caller still has invested both time and money in exchange for a busy signal. In contrast to existing PBX camp on systems, the system and method of the present invention allows a user to be advised of the status of a telephone via network external to the location of the telephone to maximize the probability of actually making the desired connection.
An alternative embodiment of the present invention is to connect the calling party""s telephone to the computer at the calling party""s location. Thereafter, upon a determination by the calling party""s telephone is such that a call can be made, the user""s computer will then dial the user""s telephone prompting the user to pick that telephone up and thereafter dial the called party""s telephone thereby completing the telephone call in an automated fashion.
A further embodiment of the present invention is to use the computer connect to send the called party an e-mail and then have the e-mail delivered to the called party""s voice mail box.
It is also the case the telephone companies are seeking to expand their markets for both long distance and local services. This expansion has caused certain long distance to acquire cable companies in order to provide local service to customers. This cable-borne telephone is yet another way for long distance carriers to reach local users by virtue of the cable system infrastructure already in place. Where such cable infrastructure exists, it is also possible to obtain the telephone status of users telephones over the cable system.
Obtaining telephone status over the cable network occurs in a similar fashion to that already noted above. In a first embodiment, a called party""s telephone is either plugged into a set-top box or other interface through which telephone services are offered. Alternatively, the called party""s telephone is connected to a computer system which is in turn connected to a set-top box ore other telephone and/or data interface for those cable operations that offer Internet-over-cable service. The off-hook status of the telephone at the called party""s location is determined via a switch at the telephone company (telco). That off-hook status is provided to a file that is accessible over the Internet.
Thus, a calling party, desiring to obtain the status of the telephone at a location having cable service would again access the Internet and obtain information from the telephone status file which is constantly updated by the telco switch. Conversely, information concerning telephone status file over the cable network. In this manner, any user can obtain the telephone status via a computer system linked to the Internet via a cable operator. In addition, telephone status can be provided to a telephone status file over the Internet for those telephones that can use local cable operator infrastructure to connect to the public switched telephone network.
As noted above, a calling party at the cable location can also obtain the telephone status of the called party telephone by simply using the computer that is plugged into the set-top box or other telephony/data interface provided to go over the Internet to the telephone status file. This additional cable network thereby allows updating of the telephone status file and allows telephone status to be obtained in yet another fashion.
The present invention is more fully described by reference to the figures that follow.